Flying is a hassle.
Driving gets tedious.
So decided to take a future trip to Chicago in a sleeper on Amtrak. Now this:

4 People Stabbed On Amtrak Train In Michigan (http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/12/05/stabbed-amtrak-michigan_n_6279150.html)

SpringHeeledJack

6th Dec 2014, 18:27

You still should go ahead with your plans, as this was on a local stopping train, a different beast altogether. There's always the chance that some high class nutter (fellow passenger) will slice you into carpaccio before you get to the Windy City though... :uhoh:

SHJ

OFSO

6th Dec 2014, 18:42

Teleportation, logically, is death and cloning

I always wonder why in Star Trek when they teleport someone, a local copy isn't retained at the transmitter end.

Mechta

6th Dec 2014, 18:47

I always wonder why in Star Trek when they teleport someone, a local copy isn't retained at the transmitter end.

They do, they just slide down the back and join the heap on the floor when the lid is opened. :}

Windy Militant

6th Dec 2014, 19:14

You still should go ahead with your plans, as this was on a local stopping train, a different beast altogether. There's always the chance that some high class nutter (fellow passenger) will slice you into carpaccio before you get to the Windy City though...

Or Maybe thirteen of them!!:E*

Remember Spaceman Digby's problems with the Telesenders in Dan Dare and the Arthur C Clarke short story Travel by Wire!

*Murder on the Orient Express

OFSO

6th Dec 2014, 19:22

Mr Crun, a question for you: if as you are being teleported, you break wind, does the fart emerge at the destination end, blow back to the transmitter or just float around in hyperspace ? From watching Stargate SG-1 I think it accompanies the team to the far end but I'm not sure about the Star Trek system. Either way I'm not going to try being teleported until I know what's awaiting me in transit.

TomJoad

6th Dec 2014, 21:14

You need to watch the movie The Fly. The fart and you would recombine as one at the other end! Best policy would be to let it out before you go teleporting;)

Tom

OFSO

6th Dec 2014, 21:40

The fart and you would recombine as one at the other end

As a man, I have no problem with this. I have it on good authority that ladies reabsorb farts anyway which is why they never emit them.

Andu

6th Dec 2014, 22:46

Re Star Gate SG1: it's always intrigued me that every humanoid settlement in every far reach of every galaxy speaks perfect English with a North American accent - almost as if every such humanoid was found in some extras pool in west LA.

Was this explained at some time early in series one? Was there a Douglas Adams-style Babel Fish inserted in the ear of all the Star Gate teams before they stepped thudablu? If so, I missed that episode.

TomJoad

6th Dec 2014, 23:02

I'd read somewhere that Gene Roddenberry only introduced teleportation to Star Trek as the original idea, to have the saucer section of Enterprise undock and land on the planet, would take too long. Inspired move, it became a signature piece of the series.

In the world of physics we do now have evidence of successful teleportation - unfortunately, or thankfully, it is only possible at the quantum level. Photons have been successfully teleported across a few km. In reality what is being teleported in a form of "information" that characterises the quantum particle. A very long way off from "beam me up Scotty".:p

Tom

TomJoad

7th Dec 2014, 00:09

For those who are into the genre and haven't seen it then you may wish to check out the movie "The Prestige". Nice little twist to the teleportation thing - won't spoil for you. David Bowie puts in an appearance as Nikola Tesla, and of course anything with Michael Caine is always worth a watch.:)

Tom

Ascend Charlie

7th Dec 2014, 02:24

In a modern-day remake of the series, a spaceman wanting to be teleported to Aldebaran 3 would have a problem because Windows 2025 would get hacked and he would be sent to Nigeria to be held for ransom inside a USB stick.

But it would solve the jail overcrowding problems, just teleport them all into a USB stick or SD card and file it away fro the appropriate number of years. No need to feed, no riots, and you could even conveniently lose some off the back of the warden's desk.

lomapaseo

7th Dec 2014, 03:49

There's always the chance that some high class nutter (fellow passenger) will slice you into carpaccio before you get to the Windy City though...

That can be easily countered by you also carrying a knife.

I Figure the odds would be astronomical against two in the same car on the train

OFSO

7th Dec 2014, 09:09

Photons have been successfully teleported across a few km.

I think about 120 kms. Mainland Spain to the Canary Islands, or some such place. The intention was to do the experiment with the Aldebarans, but they couldn't be bothered, and one can hardly blame them.

Arm out the window

7th Dec 2014, 09:27

If all this talk about quantum particles popping in and out of existence is to be believed, then maybe doing it selectively on a mass scale to send a whole human assembly of them isn't so far fetched after all, brain patterns, personality and all.

Maybe they could do a bit of readjustment en route and get rid of our personality flaws en route, I wouldn't need it mind.

TWT

7th Dec 2014, 09:34

You do have to ensure that the teleportation chamber is bug free though

Analysing what a human person is composed of and ordering up the same materials at the other end ready for a reconstruction ? Feasible I guess.

Scanning a human being and transmitting that data to the other end to assemble a duplicate from the materials ? Just about possible but that is one heck of a lot of data. Huge bandwidth required. Buffered storage, error correction and so on. A massive job, but one day, maybe yes. No technical problem, although remember what happened to Mel Brooks in "Spaceballs".

Scanning the consciousness of a human being and inserting it into the duplicate mentioned above ? Now there we do have a problem. I don't know how that could be done.

cattletruck

7th Dec 2014, 12:15

Teleportation... Hmmm, can you you really take grown men wearing latex on their heads seriously?

Subscriber Trunk Dialing is indeed one of the greatest menaces of this age. Bring back the old telephone exchange staffed by hundreds of helpful young wenches !

SpringHeeledJack

7th Dec 2014, 21:32

Bring back the old telephone exchange staffed by hundreds of helpful young wenches !

A place I used to work in had a -/+50 female operators in a large room connecting calls and data worldwide, it was affectionately referred to as 'The Cow Shed' for reasons that gentlemanly conduct do not permit.

SHJ

Loose rivets

8th Dec 2014, 01:32

No, don't bring back operators!

I started a call to a London girlfriend from a quiet local callbox. After giving the number, the local operator said, Is that Rob? Gulp. I was going out with her at the time.

She was sitting in a house next to Walton on the Naze post office. Its blinds were always drawn . . . except for one night. Our new hairdresser had gone into one of the PO's Boxes on the footpath and started to talk dirty. A lady with no sense of humor peeked past the lightproof curtains and he found himself up in front of the local magistrates. It didn't stop his smutty jokes while cutting hair, it was part of the reason his shop was always crowded.

mikedreamer787

8th Dec 2014, 04:12

I liked going through the operators in Oz.

One I chatted with was for nearly 3 hours.

Met her 2 days later for lunch.

Had the biggest boobs and a to-die-for ass.

Took me to her place. Met her lesbian lover.

I was allowed to watch and enjoy! :)

ukc_mike

8th Dec 2014, 11:53

The unanswered question was whether Matter should've been transported or just the Bits.

The appropriate Internet standard addresses http://www.ietf.org/rfc/rfc1437.txt this issue and some of the other complications already mentioned in this thread.

airship

8th Dec 2014, 19:22

I've been quantumly considering the aspects of teleportation and decided that most of you are flogging a dead horse. Why make matter(s) over-complicated when there is a suitable solution using currently-available technologies which merely need a little additional development and refining? All we need for 'Earth-restricted' teleportation are:

2) Not completely 'mindless' - basic but critical bodily-functions such as the sphincter would have to be maintained by a smaller and simple organic brain. But it would be powerful micro-processors (obviously blood-cooled) that occupied the main brain cavity.

With all the 'standard sensors' that come standard in a 'mindless' human clone, all that remains is for the 'teleporter' to wear a fully-sensorial body-suit, have a fast (and ideally anonymous) internet connection, a well-endowed (and also anonymous) credit card...and a wild imagination?! :ok:

OFSO

8th Dec 2014, 20:59

airship, for a perfect life, none of this is necessary. This planet is already occupied by a species which looks good, has a nice balanced body, and which in civilised countries is provided with food, drink and shelter in return for doing almost nothing except looking pretty.